Esther M. Bacot, sales associate

Esther M. Bacot, a former dress designer and Talbot's sales associate, died March 25 from kidney failure at Gilchrist Hospice Care in Towson. She was 88.

The daughter of a physician and a homemaker, the former Esther Philinda Murray was born in Baltimore and raised on Charlesmeade Road in North Baltimore. She was the granddaughter of the Rev. John G. Murray, the seventh Episcopal bishop of Maryland and the first to be elected presiding bishop of the United States.

She was a 1945 graduate of Bryn Mawr School and attended Goucher College. In 1947, she married George Herbert Bacot Jr.

She began her career as a fashion designer making dresses for debutantes and brides. She later worked for Eileen & Elise, a Ruxton dress shop.

From 1950 to 1954, Mrs. Bacot and her family lived in Middletown, Ohio, when Mr. Bacot was district sales manager for Armco Steel Corp.

They later moved to Trafalgar Road in Towson, and in 1964 settled in a home on Hawthorn Road in Roland Park. From 1964 to 1976, Mrs. Bacot was an administrative secretary at Boys' Latin School.

In 1978, Mrs. Bacot and her husband moved to Charlottesville, Va., when he was named vice president and general manager of the Virginia Glass Co.

During her Charlottesville years, Mrs. Bacot was a sales associate at Talbot's, and won an award for being the top retail sales associate in the nation.

In 2004, she and her husband moved to the Pickersgill retirement community in West Towson.

Mrs. Bacot was an avid ballroom dancer, and with her husband, had been an Arthur Murray dance instructor for many years.

Her husband died in 2010.

She enjoyed playing bridge, gardening and bird watching. She was a former member of the Baltimore Country Club.

Mrs. Bacot was a communicant of the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, 5603 N. Charles St., where a memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. April 9.

Surviving are a son, John G.M. Bacot of Severna Park; a daughter, Barbara Bacot Leahy of Richmond, Va.; and four grandchildren. Another son, George Herbert Bacot III, died in 2006.